Biography - Wesley Snell
WESLEY SNELL. It will be unanimously conceded that the well-appointed restaurant fills an important niche in the sum total of any town's acquisitions, and it is in such connection that due mention is made of the establishment of which Mr. Snell is the proprietor. This popular house was established about four years ago, and is conducted in an admirable manner, while the cooking is beyond reproach. Prices are moderate, and a first-class meal can be obtained for a sum within the reach of all.
Mr. Snell was born at Stanton, Ill., April 11, 1843, to John and Elizabeth (Best) Snell, the former of whom was born in North Carolina, and came to Illinois in 1823, with his father, Roger Snell, and settled on a farm not far from Stanton. On this same farm the subject of this sketch was born. The grandfather died at the very advanced age of ninety-two years, while John Snell's demise occurred on the 7th of March, 1892, at the age of eighty-six years. Young Snell grew up on the farm on which he was born, and, being next to the youngest in a family of nine children, received but a common-school education.
When the war cloud, which had hovered over the country for so long a time, burst in all its fury, he, with two of his brothers, William and James, joined the Third Illinois Cavalry, and served three years. William was slightly wounded at the battle of Pea Ridge, but was otherwise uninjured in the service. He died in 1881, and James in February, 1892. Wesley Snell entered the service on the 7th of March, 1865, and became a member of Company H, Twenty-eighth Illinois Infantry as a recruit, and was sent to the front at Mobile, Ala., and at once took part in the siege of that place. He was with his company at the fall of Spanish Fort, Ft. Blakely and the fall of Mobile. They were in camp near the latter city when the news of President Lincoln's assassination reached them. They were then sent to the Rio Grande in Texas, and continued to do guard duty in the vicinity of Brownsville, where Mr. Snell remained until his term of enlistment had expired, in March, 1866. He was discharged on the 7th of that month, after which he spent one year on a farm in Macoupin County, Ill., then came to Montgomery County, and engaged in farming seven miles south of Nokomis, where he remained until 1880, when he established himself in business in the town, and has since successfully conducted his restaurant and bakery.
The establishment of which Mr. Snell is the proprietor is excellent of its kind, the bread especially being of a very superior quality, while cakes of all description, both ornamental and plain, are seen in the show-cases. In politics, Mr. Snell has always been a strong Republican, but has never aspired to public position. He married in 1868 Miss Mary E. Bond, a native of Madison County, Ill., by whom he has a family of six children, five of whom are living: Lulla I.; Elizabeth E., wife of John E. Todd, of Mattoon, Ill.; Eva E., who died at the age of thirteen years; Minnie, John B., and Essie. Mr. Snell's brother, the Rev. Asa Snell, has been a Methodist minister for the past thirty-six years, and is now located at Spring Garden. Mr. Snell is a well-known man of business, who has gained an influential and wide-spread patronage through his honorable methods in dealing with the public, and by his energy and promptness in filling the contracts that are given him.
Extracted 04 Dec 2016 by Norma Hass from 1892 Portrait and Biographical Record of Montgomery and Bond Counties, Illinois, pages 192-193.
